Science Teacher Preparation: A Comparison of Noyce and Non-Noyce Scholarship Participation.

Although studies have been published that examine the effectiveness of large federal scholarship programs for recruiting new science teachers, few studies have examined whether new teachers recruited by these programs are as well prepared as those who were not recruited and supported by these scholarships. In an effort to address the discrepancy in preparation, we analyzed data from three previous National Science Foundation Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program grants and examined the relationship between Noyce support for science preservice teachers (PSTs) and three demographic characteristics, (a) gender, (b) race (those underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics [URiS]), and (c) socioeconomic status (Pell eligibility), as measured by a high-stakes teacher performance assessment, the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT). We found that science PSTs who receive Noyce support are better prepared to support their own students in academic language than those who do not receive Noyce support. We also found that, although there were no relationships between demographic characteristics and PST PACT scores, some differences existed between Noyce and non-Noyce PSTs within demographic categories, suggesting that Noyce PSTs are more prepared in the domain of academic language (if they are male or URiS) and in the domains of assessment and overall PACT average (if they are Pell eligible). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]